﻿﻿﻿One could argue that the green revolution really took root online with the launch of eBay. Or perhaps Craigslist. Connecting individual sellers with millions of potential buyers brought the neighborhood garage sale (or local classifieds) to the masses, and with it, the ability to extend the product lifecycle of used, yet still useful, products. As Amy Skoczlas Cole from eBay said, “The greenest product is the one that already exists.”

Such peer-to-peer ‘connective’ consumption has long existed offline. Online models like eBay connect individuals at massive scale, while overcoming transaction barriers through the use of seller reviews as well as secure payment mechanisms like PayPal.

Such models challenge the notion of permanent ownership, and with it the environmental impact that it brings. Instead, ownership is viewed as a temporary or altogether unnecessary condition required for realizing product benefits. Products such as cars, beds, clothes, lawnmowers and drills often lay idle and available for use if only those that are in need connect with those that have. Collectively, many have dubbed such transactions ‘collaborative’ consumption because they require the involvement of a community network to make them liquid.

Today, there are at least three peer-to-peer (P2P) models emerging that can facilitate greener transactions:

Rent. Today, there are many businesses that rent, instead of sell, products to consumers including Netflix, Zipcar and RentTheRunway to name a few. Shared products have a lower environmental footprint, of course, requiring fewer products overall to be produced to meet demand.

Recently, P2P models have emerged that allow consumers to rent products that they own including a spare bed (CouchSurfing), car (Spride, Getaround), even a wedding dress (Zilok). Such models leverage social networks to provide reviews and referrals for products and participants, as well as mobile apps that take advantage of location-based capabilities.

Exchange. Increasingly, consumers can facilitate the exchange of goods through trading, bartering or gifting. Such transactions reduce demand for new products by extending the lifecycle of existing ones. Such models provide a more flexible and open ended way to facilitate exchanges than with money. For example, FreeCycle users to make products available free-of-charge to those that are want to take them. In contrast, ThredUp facilitates the exchange of children’s clothes between peers but expects participants first to give clothes to a member in the community before accepting clothing in return. Similarly, Swap enables members to exchange books, CDs, movies and video games. What you can get depends on whether others want what you have to give.

Use Virtual Currency. Consumers can facilitate transactions through the use of virtual currencies that provide many of the benefits of a legal tender – the ability to accumulate, bank and borrow – without actually having to be legal tender. Such currencies work well in networked communities that rely on shared services to deliver a product or service. The Superfluid, for example, is a collaborative social network in which members conduct peer-to-peer transactions by exchanging “favors” for virtual currency. Here, a marketplace has been established where by individuals offer their services (say, web development) in exchange for Quids and then, in turn, spend Quids on services that they need (copy writing).

Certainly, there is the potential to leverage such networks in the green space. Perhaps Quids could be exchanged for environmental services such as conducting a home energy audit or preparing a social corporate responsibility report for a small business.

For consumers, such peer-to-peer transactions are a natural evolution of social networks. Such transactions will continue to grow as mechanisms for transacting become more seamless and consumers become accustomed to more unconventional methods of exchange.

Marketers will be challenged to participate in a meaningful way in such peer-to-peer transactions. Some like eBay and Zilok make it easy by allowing both individuals and businesses to facilitate exchanges. Alternatively, advertising on the largest exchange sites is certainly an option. This is particularly opportunistic for brands naturally aligned with such models including shipping companies, for example. Additionally, businesses should take advantage of such exchanges to launch new offerings such as pay-by-the-day insurance for those that seek to rent a peer’s car, for example. New models that reduce consumption are not necessarily bad for business – they are simply unleashing new opportunities for companies that can play a role in their facilitation.

A common mantra in green marketing is that if you want the masses to buy your product, focus your messaging on more traditional attributes such as price, quality or service. A product’s “greenness” is likely secondary for many mainstream consumers. For green marketers then, the holy grail may be to offer a product that is competitive on dimensions both traditional and eco-friendly. This would result in the greatest number of products sold and greatest impact on the environment.

But, things are not always that simple. Consider the scenario when an innovative green product spurs new demand across an entire product category, rather than just replaces the existing generation of products in market. Is the individual product still green if the aggregate impact of the category is greater than what it replaced?

Take, for example, household lighting. Most of us are aware that switching from incandescent to fluorescent light bulbs can result in a dramatic reduction in energy use. But, overall adoption has been relatively modest in comparison to the potential market, likely due to the premium price commanded for the bulbs.

Today, an even newer generation of lighting technology is on the commercial horizon. Solid state lighting, described as a “souped up” version of the light emitting diodes (LEDs) that are commonly used today to illuminate electronic displays on alarm clocks and audio equipment, promises to provide lighting at a fraction of the energy used by today’s bulbs. (“Not Such a Bright Idea”, The Economist, August 26, 2010) Mass adoption of such technology could have significant implications for the environment given that 6.5% of the world’s energy is used for illumination.

In many ways, we should celebrate such technology fixes given their benefits to the environment. For marketers, solid state lighting clearly has the potential to be one of those “holy grail products”. Yet, green products such as solid state lighting also present a paradox in that their adoption in mass might actually be detrimental to the environment. How could this be the case? Well, according to J Y Tsao and colleagues at the Sandia National Laboratory, cheaper lighting that sips energy will likely increase overall demand and uses for light, and with it, overall energy consumption. (J Y Tsao, et. al., “Solid-State Lighting: An Energy-Economics Perspective”, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, August 19, 2010)

The rationale? Today, Tsao et. al., contends that consumers underconsume indoor light – with current fixtures providing 1/10th of the illumination as ambient outdoor light on cloudy days and 1/60th of ambient outdoor light on sunny ones. Tsao rationalizes that there is plenty of room to consume more – including in new ways that have yet to be thought of.

As evidence, Tsao et. al., models historical lighting use and adoption rates for new technologies – from gas lanterns to fluorescent bulbs – and extrapolates forward demand based on the amount of light produced (measured in lumens) and cost per lumen.

Historic trends clearly indicate that consumer demand greatly increased when cost dropped and other attributes – such as faster turn on/off and greater cleanliness – expanded lighting uses. Extrapolating into the future, Tsao et. al., predicts that with solid state lighting, demand has the potential to increase10x by 2030 and with it, perhaps a 2x increase in energy use. How paradoxical.

It is important to note that the green product paradox is not isolated to LED lighting. Increased demand for electric cars, for example, could result in a similar dilemma if the added electricity load needed to power the vehicles is generated using higher polluting coal.

As such, the green product paradox presents quite the challenge for a marketer. For individual companies, such products can be both profitable and (at least appear) socially responsible. It is only by looking at the forest from the trees – and perhaps a little into the future – does it become apparent that, in aggregate, such products may, paradoxically, have a negative impact.

A sustainable brand might try itself to mitigate any impact that its products may have. But, this will only have broad impact if it ultimately compels competitors to follow suit. Given this, marketers should recognize that a solution to the paradox may not lie within an individual company’s grasp. Alternatively, it may take an industry consortium to make the necessary product changes or evolve consumer expectations. Or, it may take collaboration across industries to have lasting impact. In both examples cited above, a shift to lower-polluting sources for energy generation would mitigate an increase in demand for both products.

Overall, the green product paradox presents a difficult challenge for green marketers. Doing good for the planet may not always be as a simple as motivating purchase of greener goods. In some cases, it just might be too much of a good thing.

The customer is always right – so goes the mantra of every sales rep from time immemorial. But, as we know, what customers want may not be best for the planet. For some brands, this presents a dilemma: how do you satisfy consumer needs while remaining eco-responsible?

The dilemma can be quite daunting for a brand, especially if the eco-impact is caused by lifestyle choices consumers are long accustomed to. This challenge is only compounded when consumers are not yet aware that their very actions are having a detrimental effect – as no brand wants to be the bearer of bad news. Or, perhaps more challenging still, brands may find that the very behaviors and rituals that help define a brand itself turn out to perpetuate the very actions that are having a negative impact.

Whose responsibility is it to promote more sustainable consumer behaviors?

Many brands would say, it is the role of governments to regulate – and if they don’t, a corporate entity is not accountable for their failure to act. Others would say that it should be left to the discerning buyer. Should a brand itself take the lead? Some may argue yes. It is a demonstration of brand leadership, they say.

But, being out ahead of one’s customers may serve brands well only when their customers expect them to do so. Staking out a leadership position appeals to customers that want to know that they are doing good through the choices that they make.

Others may argue no. Brands sell products, not morality they might say. Worse, eco-responsible messaging may be antithetical to the experience a brand is trying to create. It is hard to enjoy pleasures guilt-free if one is constantly reminded of the impact that one is having on the planet.

But, regardless of where one nets out on this issue, one thing is clear: today, brands are increasingly left with little choice but to act – or react – whether or not their actions directly influence customer purchase decisions. Advocacy groups as well as individuals are leveraging the power of the media (and social media) to broadcast and amplify their voices to sway popular opinion.

Whether viewed as an opportunity to demonstrate leadership or take a defensive stance, it is likely that more and more brands will have to make such choices.

One example of such tension between brands and eco-decisions recently appeared in the New York Times Magazine article by Paul Greenberg, “Tuna’s End: The Fate of the Bluefin, the Oceans and Us.” (June 27, 2010), As Greenberg writes, Nobu, the internationally acclaimed sushi restaurant chain, faces a decision today over the selection of seafood that it serves.

The Atlantic Bluefin Tuna – a prized fish for sushi and sashimi – is now endangered. Continued commercial fishing may push it to extinction. Further, the timing of the BP oil spill in the Gulf likely exacerbated the situation by polluting one of two known breeding grounds in the Atlantic for these fish right as mating season was to begin.

Today, Greenpeace is pressuring Nobu – in large measure because it is a category leader – to no longer serve Bluefin to its patrons. Nobu has resisted. Nobu co-owner Richie Notar noted, “The Japanese have relied on tuna and other bounties of the sea as part of their culture and history for centuries. We are absolutely appreciative of your goals and efforts within your cause, but it goes far beyond just saying that we can just taken what all of a sudden has been declared an “endangered” species off the menu. It has to do with custom, heritage and behavior.”

Arguably, Nobu’s brand identity emanates from a careful balance of adherence to the tradition and ritual of sushi – its creation, its presentation, its consumption – and hip appeal: swanky ambiance, innovative food creations and celebrity ownership. Out of balance, the brand does not deliver on the experience consumers have come to expect.

With this balance in mind, Nobu has tried to stake out a middle ground by updating its menu with the following message: “Bluefin tuna is an environmentally threatened species. Please ask your server for an alternative”

Such a simple message informs patrons of the issue and then let’s each consumer make their own choice. Additionally, such phrasing invites a dialogue between the patron and server regarding food substitutes, though it is unclear as to how many patrons would be inclined to do so.

What Nobu has missed, however, is an opportunity to leverage this situation to evolve its brand appeal – keeping the balance between tradition and hip appeal while elevating each to the next level.

Nobu could find an alternative to Bluefin tuna and not jeopardize the brand, but arguably reinforce consumer perception of Nobu as hip and trendy. Greenberg asserts that what Nobu needs is a new substitute for tuna. As part of his research, he went searching for a Bluefin substitute and may have found one in a fish known as kahala. Arguably, Nobu is missing an opportunity to be one of the first to introduce kahala across its menus, reinforcing its trendy image.

Ironically, by introducing such a substitute, Nobu would not be breaking with tradition, but rather, returning to it, as Bluefin was not widely popular in sushi until just 30 years ago. It was nowhere to be found in sushi before 170 years ago.

Thus, shifting away from Bluefin and offering consumers a tasty substitute could actually enhance Nobu’s reputation for seeding new trends while maintaining close adherence to the tradition of sushi.

In this case, what is good for the brand may actually be good for the planet.

With the #1 renewable energy program in the US, the City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) must be doing something right.In fact, despite a formidable price hurdle, CPAU has managed to sign up over 20% of Palo Alto residents for clean energy, and is not finished yet.

Notably, when CPAU decided to aggressively market renewable energy to its customers, it decided to reach beyond traditional utility circles to engage the right marketing partner. For that, CPAU turned to 3Degrees to educate consumers and convert them to clean energy.

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Adam Capage, Director of Utility Partnerships at 3Degrees.We spoke of the challenges that marketers face when trying to shift consumers to renewable energy, the approach that 3Degrees takes and reasons why it has been so successful.Here are his words:

MG: How do you partner with utilities?

AC: Essentially, we partner with utilities by leveraging their brand and their customer connections [and combine it] with our knowledge of how to talk to people about why they’d want to support renewable energy.

The Palo Alto partnership was [our] first utility partnership [formed] in 2003. When we partnered with Palo Alto, they had already had a green program operating for three years and it had not yet reached 1% participation.

In many ways Palo Alto had the ideal demographics for marketing this product.And so it’s very tempting to just think “Well hey, its Palo Alto, of course they’re at 20%”.But, the product did exist for three years [before involvement by 3Degrees] without hitting 1%. So, it’s a combination.Yes, demographics are key.But, you do have to talk to [consumers] repeatedly and get the messages out there and that’s what we’ve been focusing on.

Since 2003, the participation rate has basically sloped upward the whole time.Today, we’re actually over 20% now and we haven’t seen any slowing.We keep kind of wondering if and when it will slow, but it hasn’t.

Traditional thought was that there was low hanging fruit [to acquire] and then it would get harder to acquire people over time.Instead, it seems that you can create new low hanging fruit.As you talk to people, you make [renewable] an accessible, appealing product to new groups.Another possibility is just that Palo Alto has such a huge percentage of their population with [the] perfect demographics [for purchasing renewable energy] that you can get an incredibly high penetration rate.

MG: Do you tailor your message to particular subgroups within the city?

AC: No.The real challenge is that renewable energy requires people to pay a premium and they have absolutely nothing [tangible] to show for it.People for a long time tried to compare this to organic food or bottled water or other premium product.And, you just can’t do that because with bottled water people think they’re getting [a personal benefit like] cleaner water.With organic food they might be stopping themselves from having pesticides.[Unlike with renewable energy], it’s not just about the public good.

[Marketing clean energy] is like a request for people to make a private contribution to a public good.And that’s just damn hard.

I think that the best parallel is public radio and TV knowing that people understand that the programs are very likely to continue whether or not they pay up, but they do it anyway.With renewable energy we need to put a line item on the bill that says you pay more.It’s very hard to make people get connected to what they’ve done.So we try but you know we can’t be in the home everyday like public radio or TV.

We focus on a message that you can make a difference and there are specific environmental benefits to purchasing renewable energy. We link [environmental benefits] to specific energy usage and [provide] examples of benefits that are local.And then we repeatedly try to get that message out there.

MG: Do you focus your message on awareness or consideration for purchase?

AC: When we start each [partnership], it is like going back to 2003 in Palo Alto; you start from ground zero.It’s a cluttered market and it’s hard to break through so awareness is definitely our first battle.

With Palo Alto I think that awareness has come a very long way.I don’t think they’ve done research recently, but I bet it’s pretty high so now we’ve got messages that simply say “just do it”.

MG:What is average price premium for renewable energy?

AC:It varies quite a bit around the country based on the premium for clean energy, current electricity rates and the amount of energy that is consumed.

In California the average household uses something like 500 or 600 kilowatt hours a month, where as we have a partner, Amerin, that is based in St. Louis.Its Missouri customers use on average 1,000 kilowatt hours a month.

The premium for Palo Alto [residents] that convert [to renewable energy] is going to be between $5 and $7 per month I think.For our partnership in Amerin, it’s closer to $15 per month on average.

MG:Aren’t renewable energy prices independent of oil price shifts?

AC:The programs aren’t designed that way.A few [utility tariffs] in the country are actually designed where the renewable energy price is essentially substituted on people’s bills for their traditional fuel.Those programs have seen great success.Everyone understands why they’ve seen [success] as they have a whole new message to talk about: price stability because [the price of] renewables never change.

Most programs are designed where the renewable energy premium is on top of what they already pay.So the thinking [by consumers] is renewable energy is more expensive.You aren’t actually getting the electricity from [specific] wind turbines anyway.What your dollars are doing is allowing the utility make more investments in putting renewable energy into the overall mix.

Hence the public good part: your electricity comes on just like everybody else’s except you pay more.

MG: Are you actually paying for 100% equivalent renewable energy?

AC:Yes.Not every program in the country is designed the same. But, our five partnerships are all 100% usage.

MG: What are the key customer insights for purchase of renewable energy?

AC:A few people talk about new technology and want to support it.A few people talk about fuel prices going through the roof and we are beholden to the Middle East, so they want to support another source. But the majority just says “I want to make a difference”.It seems like one small step, one small opportunity for [consumers] to do that.

MG:Can the success of Palo Alto be replicated across the country or is this an anomaly?

AC:20% might be an anomaly but I know that, in general, these [renewable energy] programs are underperforming.We have five like I said.One of them just started and so it only has a couple tenths of a percent participation.But all together our five average 7.8% participation.The industry average is 1.8%.You can do this better.

MG:What’s the secret?

AC:I think that the partnership model is a really good one.The utility has the customer’s eyes and contacts and, in most cases, the customer’s trust.That is certainly true in Palo Alto.

3Degrees brings the messaging and dedication to execution.The single best thing we’ve found is that you collect information about what channels and messages are working well and you just execute again and again and again and again.

That’s not what utilities do; they are not marketing organizations.We do the marketing behind their brand and no one ever knows our name.We want it that way.

MG:Do you think that the social narrative has changed given Al Gore’s movie a few years ago and just the growing reality and awareness of global warming?Has that context enabled you to move the needle further?

AC:It definitely helps.We were out in front of movie theaters when Al Gore’s movie was released.We set up tables outside to intercept people came out of the movie.

MG:When you target utility customers, what kind of marketing campaign do you implement?

Electrical power generation accounts for 40% of total annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the US.Such a high concentration of GHGs is due to our reliance on highly polluting fossil fuels, especially domestic coal.Yet, while the popular press focuses on the recent growth in renewable energy, it still provides only 2% of our total electrical needs today.

Until recently, many arguments have been made for why adoption of clean energy remains slow.Certainty, price ranks as the #1 barrier to broader adoption.Other factors include reliability concerns and lack of education about the technologies.

Interestingly, Palo Alto, California has bucked this trend.Over the course of several years, the municipal utility has partnered with 3Degrees, a utility marketing company, to encourage residents to sign up for its PaloAltoGreen program which provides 100% renewable energy from wind and solar power sources.The results of this program have been astounding, with over 20% of all residents switching to clean energy.Indeed, PaloAltoGreen is now ranked as the #1 green energy program nationwide based on participation.

What does this mean for GHG reduction?Well, it is quite simple: the purchase of 41.5M kWh of renewable energy translates into a reduction of 350,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak independently with both Tom Auzenne from the City of Palo Alto Utilities. We spoke about consumer interest in renewable energy, barriers for greater adoption by consumers and key reasons for this program’s success.Here is what Tom Auzenne had to say:

MG: Who purchases renewable energy in Palo Alto? What is the mix between residential, commercial and governmental entities?

TA: PaloAltoGreen (PAG) is the City of Palo Alto’s 100% renewable energy optional program open to all residential and commercial customers with an active electric service provide by the City of Palo Alto Utilities. The program has about 20% of the customers involved, with residential customers making up on average 95% of the mix and the commercial customers at 5%. Our residential sales account for roughly 60% of the program sales with commercial and governmental making up the rest.

However, starting with July 2008, both the City of Palo Alto (CPA) and the Regional Water Quality Plant (RWQCP) are increasing their commitment to buy renewable energy equal to 30% of their total usage, a ten-fold leap from the previous 3% of total usage purchases.This will increase the percentage of nonresidential customers in the program.

MG: Describe the demographics of your average residential customer that signs up for renewable energy? How do they differ from the average utility customer in Palo Alto? Across the US?

TA: As a general rule, the residential PAG customer is well educated, in a high income household and is environmentally progressive. Most are thinking about their environmental impact and want to do something about it.

One of the primary differences from other green pricing program around the country is that PAG customers generally use less energy per month than our average customer. PAG customers use 400-600 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month compared to the national average of about 888 kWh (according to the DOE).This indicates that our customers may also be trying to reduce their electricity usage through energy efficiency or other measures.

MG: What motivates residents of Palo Alto to switch to renewable energy (e.g., attitude toward the environment, concern for their kids, financial incentives, community empowerment, etc.)? Are their attitudes substantially different than the rest of Americas? If so, in what ways?

TA: There are many motivations leading to program participation. These include being role models for the next generation, “doing the right thing” for the environment, and buying renewables as a logical next step after energy efficiency.

CPAU strives to communicate the environmental benefits of renewable energy to Palo Altans in as many ways as possible. Combine this near constant communication with high community awareness of the issues surrounding climate change, and you have the combination that brought PAG such success.

We also work closely with the Palo Alto Unified School District on energy and curriculum. Many customers not participating in PAG have taken a more direct approach, and have installed their own photovoltaic (PV) systems rather than buy renewable energy from the market. Between January 2007 and March 2008, 92 PV systems were installed in Palo Alto, representing 250 kW of generation.

MG: What, if any, is the premium charged for purchasing renewable energy (vs. non-renewable) today? What factors do you attribute to a customer’s willingness to pay such a premium (e.g., level of affluence, attitude regarding the environment, etc)? Do you think renewable energy will be adopted by a majority of customers without eliminating the premium altogether?

TA: Residential and small commercial customers can enroll in PAG for 100% of their monthly electric usage at a premium of 1.5 cents/kWh. Large commercial and industrial customers can buy renewable energy in blocks of 1,000 kWh for $15 per block. This allows them to support renewable energy at a level that makes business sense.

One of the nice things about PAG is that the price doesn’t fluctuate. CPAU hasn’t changed the price for 100% renewable energy in five years and has no plans to do so. The demographics of Palo Alto are also great for marketing renewable energy, as our customers tend to be interested in the environment and can have a level of disposable income that allows a lower barrier to participation.

MG: A 20% adoption rate for renewable energy is impressive. Can this success be replicated across the country? If so, what will it take to do so? If not, what are the obstacles (e.g., low awareness, lack of urgency, difficult process to switch, price premium, etc.)?

TA: With the continuous support of our local elected officials on the City Council, the staff of the City government, the employees of the Utilities Department, and, of course, our great customers, nearly everyone is behind this program. This type of support is vital to the success of a green pricing program in Palo Alto and elsewhere in the country.

Other factors that need to be in-place, or created, include customer awareness of the environment, a history of energy efficiency, an active partnership with the schools and students, and a willingness to lead.

It should be noted that not all the program participants have vast disposable incomes. Participants are both young and old, in the prime of their earning years or on fixed incomes, have children or are childless. All share, however, the same vision of, and desire for, a sustainable future.

MG: What are your primary marketing objectives in the residential and commercial markets? Do you find the need to spend significant time building awareness of either the category or the technology?

TA: CPAU has found that targeted messaging, repetition, clear information about the product and a call to action (“closing the sale”) bring results. If the job is done correctly, then customers are aware.

For those customers that have more questions, we have many ways for them to find answers to any question that they might have.

MG: Is there any skepticism on the part of consumers regarding the (reduced) impact that renewable energy has on the environment?

TA: There are always skeptics, but we focus on educating consumers on the positive aspects of the renewable energy we provide.With the melting of the North Pole ice and the retreating of the Swiss glaciers, featured on the Evening News, skepticism has been reduced or eliminated.

MG: Please describe how you partner with 3Degrees in terms of your marketing efforts. What are the core components of these marketing efforts? What made them so successful?

TA: 3Degrees specializes in marketing renewable energy. They have partnerships with utilities in California and around the country. They are able draw on their experience and accumulated data to provide targeted marketing and program management support.

CPAU brings its knowledge, reputation and trust of the community to this partnership to help sharpen the marketing even more. With their experience and our community awareness, we have created one of the most effective, and successfully marketed, green power programs in the country.

An Interview with Amy Hebard, Chief Research Officer and Founder, earthsense

Marketing green can be a challenge for even the most seasoned professional.There are many reasons for this of course: consumer beliefs are still evolving; demand is not well established; and even where it is, purchase behavior tends to be inconsistent (e.g., the same consumer buys the hybrid and the SUV).

For green marketers to be successful, they must effectively and efficiently target their audience when and where consumers are most receptive to green messaging.For marketers, this is no easy task.

While green content sites or periodicals may seem like a natural fit, advertisers must remember that consumers come in all shades of green. As such, focused periodicals may only reach “deep greens” which today represent only a fraction of the total population that express some level of interest in green.Instead, marketers must target their audience in more mainstream channels.

Today, companies like earthsense are emerging to empower marketers to do just that.

At its core, earthsense is a market research company focused on green consumers.What differentiates earthsense, however, is the depth and breadth of it dataset regarding consumer attitudes, behaviors and demographics.This dataset is based on both proprietary research as well as partner data sources.For marketers, mining this dataset has the potential to uncover rich consumer insights that can help shape messaging, as well as guide marketing and media investments in a more targeted way.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Amy Hebard, Chief Research Officer and Founder of earthsense.We spoke about earthsense’s unique data set, consumer insights derived from the database and opportunities to leverage the data to more effectively target consumers, particularity via retail channels.Here is what she had to say:

MG: Earthsense fields one of the largest surveys in the green space. What makes your data unique?

AH: Targeting and finding the “green” consumer – whether we’re talking about “super greens” willing to pay a premium, mass market “greens” who want to be eco-friendly without an added charge, or “non-greens” who wouldn’t buy “green” products even if they cost less than standard prices – is an enormous challenge for many marketers today.

When we started earthsense, we knew that we needed to take a fresh look at the resources available to us to solve this problem. We decided to combine best-in-practice techniques of market research, database marketing and advanced geo-spatial analysis to provide new insights in this space.

First, our Eco-Insights survey is the largest by far in the US: we survey 60,000 US adults each year. This gives us unprecedented capabilities to slice and dice our data for almost any demographic group of interest (e.g., high income earners, newlyweds, parents, baby boomers, college students, expectant moms, etc).

Second, and even more important, is our ability to append almost any kind of data, because we have geocoded each record. While personal information remains anonymous to us, we supplement each record with additional data to complete our profiles. This includes neighborhood level demographics and “exographic” data (i.e., data about the community in which they live). This includes air quality in the community, data regarding traffic congestion, and nearness to a Wal-Mart or other major chains, for example.

In short, we believe there are a multitude of factors that shape consumers’ desires and ability to go green. And we think the answers can be found by fusing data from various sources to find patterns that are not easy to detect using the data available through the other providers.

MG: What types of data categories do you capture?

AH: In addition to the extensive demographics and exographics just mentioned, the survey covers several key modules:

Product Category Coverage: The backbone of Eco-Insights is our product category coverage. For each of more than 70 different categories in our most recent wave, we know how consumers define “green”, what categories they’ve bought recently, their primary reason or motivation for doing so and main deterrent when they do not.

Corporate Ratings: Another important module is the Earthsense Corporate Ratings. Between Fall 2007 and Spring 2008, we covered over 700 companies familiar to consumers from many of the largest Fortune 500 companies like Exxon Mobil, HP, and P&G to small but growing companies like Earthbound Farm, Eden Foods, and Stonyfield Farm. In addition, we include 73 supermarket market chains – nearly every major one in the US – and over 77 restaurants, including 39 Quick Service Restaurants such as Starbucks and Pizza Hut and their competitors.

We know which chains people shop in (primary and secondary). We also know how they perceive these companies including the extent they believe that the company is following sustainable business practices and the impact of the company’s products on the environment. We ask similar questions around their electrical utility.

Attitudes & Behaviors: A third key module covers environmental attitudes and behaviors. We ask: ‘Are consumers concerned about the quality of our environment five years from now?’; ‘Do they believe individuals can make a difference?’; and ‘Do they think “greenwashing” is a problem?’.

And for behaviors, in addition to their green purchasing we mentioned earlier, we want to understand how consumers act based on the three R’s [reduce, reduce and recycle].

MG: How frequently do you plan to refresh the data? When is the next survey set for release?

With the rapid change in the “green” marketplace, we know that much is changing – and fast. For that reason, we refresh the data twice a year, collecting 30,000 responses each spring and an additional 30,000 each fall. Our Spring 2008 data collection ended the first week in June, and we’ll be releasing data to our clients in August.

MG: You’ve indicated that a key concept behind how you designed your Eco-Insights survey is that the results be “actionable.” What do you have in place to make that happen?

AH: Several things. As of right now, companies can use our data and services for:

Marketing.E.g., Maximize ROI of marketing efforts with clear profiles of how to reach the target consumer.From online and offline media habit profiles, to scoring a geographical area’s propensity based on desired criteria, the data can assist efforts ranging from media planning to database marketing

Consumer Insights. E.g., Allow clients to get more from their consumer insights research budgets as we can use the responses from the Eco-Insights survey as a highly sophisticated screener to re-contact respondents for proprietary custom studies

Corporate Social Responsibility. E.g., Rate eco-friendliness of both the company and its products including ‘Likelihood to Recommend’ and ‘Likelihood to Invest’.

MG: How can CPGs and retailers use the data to target consumers interested in green products? How granular can you go? For example, can you target at the zip code level? How about by product or product category?

At a retail level, these data are extremely actionable. We capture consumers’ primary and secondary shopping chains which allow us to know what product categories people buy and where they are most likely to shop (and we can do cross-outlet analysis).

We have also asked if they were a customer of other retail chains (e.g., Home Depot, Lowes, Macy’s, Best Buy). So although we don’t have as specific information for these other outlets we can do, at minimum, analysis by these outlets. The link between category and outlet profile is very unique and actionable.

As for granularity, earthsense has partnered with Pitney Bowes MapInfo to project market potential at very low levels of geography including census block groups, tracts, and trade areas, and yes, ZIP Codes. Using the PSYTE Segmentation system, retailers can purchase mailing lists based on households living in specific neighborhood types with the highest proclivity to go green. It’s a soup-to -nuts solution.

Earthsense provides category level data, not brand-specific observations. One of the biggest benefits earthsense subscribers have is the ability to drill down further into the data using our Reconnect Service. So, say you are a manufacturer of frozen foods. You can learn quite a lot about consumers who buy this category from our main Eco-Insights survey.

But if you wanted to learn more about the types of frozen foods consumers buy and which brands they favor, you can create a customized survey whose results are appended back to the syndicated survey.This will give you the freedom to concentrate on just the details you need.

MG: Do you have attitudinal and psychographic data that can inform messaging by geography?

In addition to partnering with Pitney Bowes MapInfo, we have also formed a relationship with Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI). We’re working this summer to link our databases so that subscribers of both surveys will have unprecedented detail on consumers. And since MRI is PSYTE-encoded, all of these data are geographically actionable!

MG: How do local influencers (exographics) impact attitudes on green? Do you think these influencers impact attitudes toward green or conversely, attitudes toward exographic considerations?

Good question! There’s a lot of data to sift through and a lot to learn. While we are not looking for or trying to document causal relationships, we are finding patterns where several factors coexist. A marketer’s job is to maximize return on investment.And, we help accomplish that goal by pinpointing those areas where the patterns are the strongest.

Clearly, a person could wish to buy only organic food, ride a bicycle to work, and recycle everythingBut, factors such as the proximity to a store or farmer’s market with a good selection, the distance to a workplace, weather conditions and local waste management facilities can prevent or discourage even the most ardent “green” consumer.

With an economy that is sputtering, gas prices that are soaring, and issues surrounding safety in our food supply – consumers are weighing multiple factors before they put their put their money down on even the basics. Earthsense helps manufacturers and marketers by taking a common sense approach to understanding the motivations and barriers that directly affect the purchase of products – particularly those with environmental, health or wellness features.

While creating and sharing user-generated content is an effective way to facilitate consumer engagement and viral marketing, it is not the only approach that marketers can take.Professionally produced original content is another proven way.Increasingly, agencies or production studios create and seed content on behalf of their clients for consumers to view and share online.

One such shop is Free Range Studios which has produced several original videos that have generated significant buzz and viral impact in the green space.Calling its approach “socially conscious viral entertainment”, Free Range tries to “distill a complicated message into a fun or moving short story” while engaging its viewers by allowing them “to write the end of that story by taking action or donating.”Stories are distributed not only through paid advertisement but via video sharing sites such as You Tube and, more specifically, RiverWired, emPivot and LivePaths in the green space.They are also distributed offline at concerts and events.

Recent Free Range videos with eco-themes including Grocery Store Wars, a Star Wars spoof about a “small band of organic vegetable puppets” including Cuke Skywalker, Ham Solo, Chewbroccoli and Obi Wan Cannoli that do battle against Darth Tader and the Dark Side of the Farm.

Most recently, Free Range released The Story of Stuff, a 20-minute video that explains the environmental impact regarding the “stuff” we consume. The video has been a huge hit, recording more than 3 million viewers on The Story of Stuff microsite alone. Moreover, the video has received acclaim by winning the SXSW Interactive Award for its contribution as an educational resource.

Marketers should recognize that there are certain trade-offs made in producing their own original content themselves versus encouraging users to generate it for them.For example, with original content, upfront costs are likely to be significant higher.Yet, for getting a complex message across to consumers, original content may be a marketer’s best option to hit a home run.

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Overview

Marketing Green’s mission is to provide professionals with practical strategic marketing advice on how to build green brands and motivate mass market adoption of more sustainable products. Please join the dialogue, email mkt_green at yahoo.com or Follow @dwigder

About the Blogger

David Wigder is VP, Strategy & Analytics at Visible Measures, a leader in social video marketing. Previously, he was Senior Director, Marketing Strategy, at Ogilvy and a senior member of the Ogilvy Earth team. He also served as VP, Business Development at RecycleBank, The Wall Street Journal's #1 ranked cleantech company. He started his career as an environmental engineer. This is his personal blog.